Forging of railroad vehicle axles

ABSTRACT

A METHOD OF FORGING BILLETS FOR RAILWAY-COACH AXLES, THE DIAMETER OF THE AXLE BETWEEN THE WHEEL SEATS BEING EITHE THE SAME AS THE DIAMETER OF THE JOURNALS OR DIFFERENT, WHEREIN THE BILLETS ARE FIRST FORGED TO ROUND MATERIAL OF A DIAMETER EQUAL TO THE FINISH-FORGED DIAMETER OF THE WHEEL SEATS, AND THE ROUND MATERIAL IS THEN FINISH-FORGED IN A DROP-FORGING PRESS IN AT LEAST TWO WORKING STROKES, A PORTION OF THE ROUND MATERIAL OF A LENGTH AT LEAST EQUAL TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE WHEEL SET UPON THE ROUND MATERIAL BEING FINISH-FORED IN ONE STROKE.

Feb. 16, 1971 K. LINDERS 3,563,081

FORGING OF RAILROAD VEHICLE AXLES FiledAug. 21, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Fig.7 7 7 Fig.2 V

Fig. 3

IN V EN TOR.

KARL L/NDERS 5y M, p m

' Feb. 16, 1971 K. LINDERS 3,563,081

Filed Aug. 21, 1968 FORGING OF RAILROAD VEHICLE AXLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Fig. 7

IN V EN TOR.

KARL L INDERE lax M4, pm? J 2 United States Patent 3,563,081 FORGING 0FRAILROAD VEHICLE AXLES Karl Linders, Buttgen, near Neuss, Germany,assignor to Schloemann Aktiengesellschaft, Dusseldorf, Germany, a Germancompany Filed Aug. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 754,242

Claims priority, application Germany, Sept. 5, 1967, Sch 41,260 lint.Cl. B21k 1/10 11.5. Cl. 722-374 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisinvention relates to a method of forging billets into railway-coachaxles, which, after the forging, will be either of the same diameterbetween the wheel seats and on the journals, or will be, on thejournals, of a diameter different from the diameter between the wheelseats.

Railway-coach axles are usually forged from a billet under a forginghammer, and at times in one operation. This operation is divided intothe forging of the journals, of the wheel seats, and of the intermediatepiece connection the wheel seats with one another. Each part of theoperation imposes special requirements on the forging tools, so thatthese cannot by any mean always ensure optimum operative conditions inall parts of the operation at the same time, and the forging operationis more or less dependent upon the skill of the workmen operating theforging hammer, that is to say, the individual railwaycoach axles, afterbeing forged, usually exhibit very great deviations from one another intheir dimensions. This is very objectional for their subsequenttreatment in automatic lathes.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a processfor the forging of railway-coach axles with exactly the same dimensionsand properties, and under optimum conditions.

This aim is substantially attained according to the invention by thefeature that the billets are first forged to round material, thediameter of which is equal to the diameter of the wheel seats of thefinish-forged railwaycoach axles, and the round material is then furtherfinishforged in a drop-forging press, in at least two working strokes,wherein, from the intermediate piece of the railway-coach axleconnecting the wheel seats with one another, a piece of a length whichat most is equal to the distance between the wheel seats upon the roundmaterial before the finish-forging thereof, is finish-forged in onestroke. The forging of the railway-coach axles is now divided into theforging of the round material, the finishforging of the wheel seats, andthe forging of the intermediate piece connecting the wheel seats withone another, and the forging of the journals. The diameter of the roundmaterial is therefore the final dimension of the finish-forged wheelseats, so that two pieces of the round material of corresponding lengthand/or breadth are no longer further forged as later wheel seats andbrought by forging out or stretching the round material located betweenthese positions to a desired distance from one an- 3,563,8l PatentedFeb. 16, 1971 "ice other, that is, to the gauge or track width of therailwaycoach. Advantageously the forging of round material, and theforging out or stretching of a part of the round material in the die orswages are simple forging operations at times, so that the processaccording to the invention ensures undisturbed operation.

In a further development of the invention it is provided that therailway car axles should be straightened in the drop-forging press afterbeing forged.

Further features of the invention are presented in the followingdescription of one example of the process according to the invention,and in a. following drawing of the apparatus necessary for carrying outthe process.

FIG. 1 shows the swage or drop-forging die in a general view;

FIGS. 2 to 6 are diagrammatic representations of the steps of theprocess; and

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the forging plant as a whole.

From a rotary furnace A, square billets B, after they have been heatedto forging temperature, are drawn out individually by a billetdrawingmachine C, transported into the range of action of a gripping arm D, andthere dropped. The gripping arm D brings the square billets B into themiddle of a free-form forging press B, so that the square billets B canbe seized by a manipulator F, and forged, in the free-form forging pressE, into round material b, of a diameter equal to the diameter of thewheel seats of the finish-forged railway-coach axles.

From the free-form forging press E the round material I) is supplied, ata temperature between 1100 and 1150 C., by means of a roller table, to:a further gripping arm d, which brings this round material 12 into themiddle of a drop-forging press G, in such a way that it can be seized bya manipulator H pertaining to the drop-forging press G.

The round material is then moved by the manipulator H so far into asleeve or die 1 of the drop-forging press G that less than half thelength of the round material projects out of the sleeve 1 at the nextstroke of the dropforging press G. The sleeve 1 is of a hollowcylindrical form, and has been bored to the diameter of the wheel seatson the side remote from the manipulator H, and serves merely for theforging of the round material between the wheel seats, so that the roundforging material b is stretched, in the next forging operation, with aplurality of working strokes of the drop-forging press G, in the sleeve1, without the part of the round material 12, which is afterwards tobecome the wheel seat being deformed. Before the next forging operationthe round material b is drawn so far out of the sleeve 1 by themanipulator H that after this forging operation, as illustrated in FIG.2, with a plurality of working strokes, of the intermediate piecebetween the wheel seats, more than half, and at the same time a piece upto one wheel seat, has been forged out or finish-forged.

Then, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the round material I; is moved by themanipulator H into a further sleeve 2 of the drop-forging press G, whichin shape is a mirror image of the sleeve 1, and serves solely for theforging of the journals. It is in fact moved so far that after thesucceeding forging operation, with a plurality of working strokes, thejournal, on the wheel seat, except for which the intermediate piece hasalready been forged is finish-forged.

For the forging of the second half of the round material b, the forgingis turned round, and with the part that is still round material, isplaced in the sleeve 1 so far that in the next forging operation of thedrop-forging press G, a further part of the intermediate piece betweenthe wheel seats is finish-forged, enlarging the hitherto forged-outpart, without transition, or in other words seamlessly.

Before the next forging operation, the remainder of the intermediatepiece, as illustrated in FIG. 4, is finishforged, or, in other words,the Wheel seats, after the stretching of the intermediate pieceoccurring during the forging, have been given the desired distance fromone another, namely the track width of the railway coach.

After the forging out of the intermediate piece, the forging is moved bythe manipulator H out of the sleeve 1, and so far into the sleeve 2,that, as illustrated in FIG. 5, during the next forging operation of thedrop-forging press G, the second journal, not yet forged out, isfinishedforged, and thus at the same time the remainder of therailway-coach axle is finish forged, so that the latter, after beingstraightened in a straightening sleeve 3 of the drop-forging press G, asillustrated in FIG. 6, can be supplied by means of tongs to a coolingbed J.

The displacement path of the manipulator H, or, in other Words, the pathby which the forging is moved from time to time in a sleeve, is yieldedfrom the equality of volumes of the forging before and afterdeformation.

The intermediate piece and the journals of a railwaycoach axle arepreferably, according to the present process, forged exactly centrallyto the wheel seats, since the wheel seats are machined in each sleeve,and the railwaycoach axles, when being forged with the wheel seats, orwith a portion of the billets forged out to the diameter of the wheelseats, bear in the sleeves 1 and 2.

1 claim:

1. A method of forging billets into railway vehicle axles, comprisingthe steps of: heating the billets to forging temperature, forging thebillet, in a free-form forging press, into round material, correspondingin diameter over its entire length, to the ultimate diameter of thefinished wheel seats, thereupon forging, in the same heat, in adrop-forging press, one-half of the axle, in two operations, the firstoperation being the finish-forging in a die of at least half the roundmaterial between the wheel 4 seats, and the second operation being thefinish-forging of the journal of the same half-axle in another die, thehalf-finished axle then being turned, and the other halfaxle beingfinish-forged by a repetition of the same two operations.

2. Means for forging billets into railway vehicle axles, comprising: afree-form forging press with straight saddles for the round-forging ofthe billet, a drop-forging press with two open dies, the length of eachdie being less than half the length of the axle, the diameter of theforging groove of one of the said dies being in one part about equal tothe diameter of the wheel seats and in the other part to the diameter ofthe axle between the wheel seats, and the forging groove of the otherdie being constructed as a mirror image of the first die.

3. Means for forging billets into railway vehicle axles as claimed inclaim 2, the two said open dies being located one to the right and theother to the left of the forging axis of the drop forging press, and theforging means further comprising a straightening die arranged betweenthe two said open dies, the said straightening die consisting of anupper straightening stamp located in the axis of the press, and twolower straightening anvils located one to the right and the other to theleft of the axis of the press.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,512,484 6/1950 Cornell 72374FOREIGN PATENTS 772,724 4/1957 Great Britain 72-377 LOWELL A. LARSON,Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 72-377

